Facebook Bans British Far-Right Groups And Any Posts That Praise Them

A member of the British National Party at a demonstration. Photo: Associated Press

Facebook has banned several British far-right groups and individuals under its 'dangerous individuals and organisations' policy - and says it won't allow anyone to express support for them.

The ban covers the British National Party and its ex-leader Nick Griffin; Britain First, along with its leader Paul Golding and former deputy leader Jayda Fransen; the English Defence League and its founding member Paul Ray; Knights Templar International and its promoter Jim Dowson; the National Front and its leader Tony Martin; and Jack Renshaw, the neo-Nazi who plotted to murder the Labour MP Rosie Cooper.

“Under our dangerous individuals and organisations policy, we ban those who proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence," says Facebook.

“The individuals and organisations we have banned today violate this policy, and they will no longer be allowed a presence on Facebook or Instagram. Posts and other content which expresses praise or support for these figures and groups will also be banned.

"Our work against organised hate is ongoing and we will continue to review individuals, organisations, pages, groups and content against our community standards.”

Facebook has been steadily stepping up its response to far-right groups in the UK. Earlier this year, it banned 'Tommy Robinson' - real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - under the same 'dangerous individuals' policy, and in March it pledged to eliminate all white nationalist and white separatist content from the site following the Christchurch massacre.

"What about the millions of other transactions that take place every day that incite violence or spread fake news? What do Facebook and other platforms intend to do about them? The 'whack-a-mole' approach they have taken so far is not sufficient."

Meanwhile, it's not going to be particularly straightforward to keep the banned individuals off the site - and policing support for them will be even harder. There's little to stop people simply creating new accounts and pages - as, indeed, happened when Facebook banned far-right pages in Canada earlier this year.

As the Commission for Countering Extremism points out, "Social media has been a game-changer for the far right, allowing hatred to spread further and faster than ever before."

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And many of the banned groups and individuals are still on Twitter, where, for example, Nick Griffin is urging his supporters to follow him on Gab and Telegram. "How much longer before Twitter follow suit?" he asks. How much longer, indeed?